I live in Poppleton and rarely go to Bishopthorpe Road. When I do, I always think what a really vibrant local shopping centre it is. Every community would enjoy having its like.

On my visits, I have always thought that traffic should be banned from Bishopthorpe Road between Nunnery Lane and Scarcroft Road. Both carriageways should be permanently closed to most traffic. Only emergency vehicles and as few buses as possible should have access. It is a place for people not traffic.

Scott Marmion (Letters, May 16) says that the council is trying to ‘beat people out of their cars’ and calls on us to resist. How? Riots in the street? I call on the council to be as bold as it dares and then yet bolder. Close it now while traffic is light. The traffic when, or if, it returns will find other places to go.

Quentin Macdonald,

Church Lane,

Nether Poppleton, York

What next - gates at each end of the road?

Have the residents of Bishopthorpe Road actually bought the road?

It seems whatever the event - jubilee, cycle races, marathons - they are able to change the road to suit themselves with scant regard for other road users or residents. And now, despite having some of the widest pavements in York, that’s not enough, so the road has been turned into a one-way.

This is not just ill-thought-out but very selfish. Not just because it makes motorists’ journeys much longer than they need to be, but also the residents of St Benedicts Road now have extra volume of traffic despite the residents-only sign that everyone ignores. What about their safety? Is it because they’re mostly council tenants so perhaps not as important? What if we all wanted wider pavements?

I was born and raised in South Bank, I bought my first house in Colenso Street. I am speaking as a genuine Bishy Roader and York resident and I’m sick of these people thinking they’re above the rest of us taxpayers.

Will someone please rein them in before they decide to go the whole hog and put gates at each end of the road?

Dan Walker, Acomb, York

We can debate scheme again after lockdown

I am one of those motorists inconvenienced by the closure of Bishopthorpe Road to southbound traffic. It is, however, a measure I fully support, having seen how dangerous the situation had become with pedestrians putting themselves at risk by stepping into the road to maintain social distancing.

The timing of the closure alongside the temporary roadworks on Blossom Street was very unfortunate; queues in Nunnery Lane can be as long as before Covid.

But the first duty of all government is to keep us safe.

Councillors will have had to balance some inconvenience to us motorists against the risk of serious injury or death to a pedestrian, either as a result of a traffic accident or contracting Covid-19 through a failure of social distancing. Given that trade off, I don’t see how, in all conscience, as responsible people accountable for their actions, they could have decided differently.

It follows we must put up with the restriction in the interests of public safety for as long as the public feel the need for social distancing.

Once the crisis is over, the wider pros and cons of the scheme can then be considered more fully.

David Judson,

Bishopthorpe Road, York